Mesmerize Me
by Sitara
Summary: ***UPDATED*** Sequel to Prelude:Nilnarien, Book 1 to my Fallacies of Vision series. In a new land, Legolas learns that the truth is never the easiest thing to bear. Legolas+OC,OC+OC in this story of true and disillusioned love.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own Gandalf, Legolas, and a lot of stuff mentioned in this fic, although I do own the characters I've somehow thought up. Erdaliel, Iantha, Harland, Unity, Xavier, Blaine…etc.etc.etc. Quotes/ lyrics here in the story aren't mine. Though I don't remember where I got all of them. Romance/Action/Adventure/Drama!

Intro: The Fallacies of Vision Series

The Fallacies of Vision. Ignorance, false light. the distortion of what is real and what you see before you. 

Arda. Middle Earth.  
A place of fairy tale endings and heroic beginnings full of the old magic of the Iluvatar. Where all good is celebrated, all evil cast away; for purer and sweeter purpose of peace and brotherhood among races. Do you believe that? 

Arda. Middle Earth. 

A world of mystery and hidden danger, where the very ground you walk on could be a fabrication of your own disillusion. Where every fantasy becomes so easily, so dangerously believable.

They live in a lie…but can you bear the truth? Can you leave your fairytales behind?

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Book 1: Mesmerize me 

By: Furia

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~Prologue~

Have you ever heard of the town of Carraleu?

Today, only ruins remain. Abandoned now, no one has ever returned to the shadows of that region. The place that invoked so many hard memories and haunting visions. How the orcs marched through their dirt streets, how the water of the lakes turned into blood, how everyone else seemed to act as though nothing at all was wrong. But ultimately…

When the fire left nothing but a wasteland. 

How that fire started still stands unsure. But there were a lot more mysteries about that night, some a great deal more obscure.

There were rumors about a little girl, who screamed in the likeness of the shriek of an eagle taking flight. Rumors about her, and her disappearance in the fire. It was only after she cried out that anyone started to notice that there was indeed still someone else trapped in the flames. She stood there, almost like a vision and was never seen again after. No one was ever sure, she could have wasted in the burning hell around her, or she could have escaped. 

But after that earsplitting scream (in what some thought to be in fear and terror), came purple lightning that shot out to the flames. It crackled with pure energy and power that engulfed the fire in its brilliance…blinding those crazy enough to stop and stare. Those crazy curious enough stood shocked and bewildered as all the fiery carnage dissolved into smoke only seconds later. Revealing their once glorious town to be now only black smoldering ruins.

The fire had gone, and as so, the strange display of power. So had the small girl who had stood trapped in the flames.

But nowadays, it is hardly spoken of anymore. A memory at most, long forgotten.

This is where our story begins.

A/N: review!


	2. Chapter 1: One Night

The Fallacies of Vision

Book 1: Mesmerize Me

By: Furia

Chapter 1: One night

~I ain't no damsel in distress~ -Ani DiFranco

It had been dark. And cold. So devastatingly cold. 

Her teeth chattered as she wrapped her damp cloak around herself, trying to block out the windy chill. Though it seemed obvious that nothing would ever hold anything of warmth anymore. Noe here she was, tired and worn… scared. A shaky feeling passed through her then, as she felt herself start to choke on her sobs. 

__

~Gandalf, please…wherever you are now…~

To Avarion… Avarion. Yes, that's what he had said a long time ago. Avarion. That was where she was going.

She ran, as her tears fell down her cheeks.
    
    ***
    

The night was as dark as always, midnight blue overhead in a silver streaked sky. As quiet, as ever; that a footfall would sound thunderous. 

The darkness, in which some thrived, and in which some others feared and brought to life the most terrible monsters in their own heads. Usually in the form of vengeful spirits come to take the living breath out of you, or gruesome looking —and smelling— ghoulish creatures that burst out from the deepest recesses of the earth. 

Funny, the nature of the living: to fear the dead. 

But then of course, Middle Earth had its share of beasts, may they be beautiful or hideous, they were always deadly. And when you live in a place where orcs—who fit their description of monster pretty well— loved to hunt at night…

Erdaliel rolled her eyes at that thought, knowing that storytellers had gone overboard with that one. Hmph. Any orc was as expendable as any other monstrosity out there, just one twist of a blade and their black hearts stopped beating. 

In the North Eastern edges of the forest once called Mirkwood, everything stood still. No unlikely prey getting lost in the dark thick maze of overgrown trees, bushes and vines… nor predator, stealthily sneaking up on its meal to make the kill. Only the sound of crickets chirping, and a flutter of wings overhead.

And yet here she was, long limbed, and nimbly making her way through the drooping branches, protruding roots and low bushes. The grasses muffled her footsteps, as she carried a satchel slung over her shoulder, looking for something among all the foliage. Though the night was so dark and the green so lush, that one might consider her finding anything in that forest a lost cause.

She stepped into a small clearing, where the trees and bushes encircled a small patch of grass, and stopped. Breathing deeply. The gentle silver glow from the moon overhead filtered through their branches and caught in her short helplessly wavy pale colored hair, fair skin gleaming; a complete contrast against her dark surroundings. 

She wore men's clothing, though fit just enough to reveal a woman's body. A belt of leather secured on her waist, where her knife was strapped in its sheath. 

Walking over to a few bushes that lined the clearing, she stooped down, and bending her knees, reached out to feel the plant against her fingertips. 

Smooth… she sniffed. Fragrant… She sniffed again.

"Kingsfoil." She sighed impatiently, confirming her suspicions. She plucked off a few branches and placed them into her satchel carefully, as to not bruise the leaves.

The wind blew against her, almost a freezing touch. Maybe ghosts were real after all. 

Erdaliel shivered.

Gently slinging the bag over her shoulder, she stood up and made her way back, slinging her small sack over her shoulder. Ignoring the sudden feeling of anxiety in such a claustrophobic environment. And a sudden instinct of alarm of too quiet a place. Noise and chaos were loud, and terrible. But at least you knew what was going on. 

You could never be too careful in places like this. 

It wasn't as though she liked spending her nights in such a place. In fact if it were up to her she'd much rather stay in the village than out here in this… death trap. 

She sighed, tucking her short hair behind her pointed ears.

Of all the chores to do, this was the one she looked forward to the least. Her master had run low on supplies this evening so she'd been instructed to gather the usual. Master did a lot of spells nowadays, and he had mentioned before that something was coming up. 

Something was coming up alright. She just wanted to get back to the town soon. 

Erdaliel went over the list of herbs needed in her head as she walked, to make sure that she had gotten everything. Rue for purification… pennyroyal for strength… marigold for clairvoyance… wormwood to call spirits… sage for protection… myrrh for…what was it again? It slipped her mind. The last of all was kingsfoil. The most powerful of healing plants. 

She broke out into a run, her long limbs eating away at the distance. It had been already a while since she left the house of her master and he didn't like being kept waiting too long. She hurried along, boot clad feet making no sound when they touched the soft earth.

Despite herself, she found herself thinking how beautiful these woods looked in the day time. It had been her favorite place to go to when she was much smaller, when she was much more faultless, for there were times when the wood elf in her took control. The trees were strong and good for climbing, the grass soft under her feet. Everywhere the smell of wildflowers and herbs…

That all changed at night it seemed. But that appeared to puzzle her master. He said that in the old years, elves would wander these forests, day or night. There was a sense of adventure then, he would say, a slight twinkle of his teasing showing in his blue eyes. Whenever he did that, she just laughed along. Let him daydream about his old years if he wanted to.

She shook her head with a faint smile. How long had it been since she'd actually thought about those things? 

*Thud*

Erdaliel stopped short, fixing the satchel to a better position across her back. It had been falling in her run back. Her fingers were fumbling at the knots when—

*Thud. Thud. Thud.*

__

~What the—~

*Crunch*

She stiffened, all senses on alert. It wasn't Kain, he had stayed back in the village this time. But she was positive she had heard that sound before. Certainly no forest animal… Through her keen senses Erdaliel picked up a rotten smell wafting from not far at all. A disgusting smell particular to…

*Thud*

Silence.

It was close. And it had stopped, that made things even more dangerous. Without hesitation, her free hand drew her knife and she made sure that the satchel was secured on her body. 

Knees bent, arms ready for defense, weapon in hand, senses alert.

*Thud*

The rotten smell grew stronger, and from where she was standing, angry, acid yellow eyes peeked through the dark green. 

It was watching her.

***

A/N: Come on, review! 


	3. Chapter 2: Prince of Mirkwood

Fallacies of Vision

Book 1: Mesmerize Me

By: Furia

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Chapter 2: Prince of Mirkwood 

Cause I have found that

All that shimmers 

In this world is sure to fade away

-Fuel, Shimmer

****

One of the last two elves left in Middle Earth woke up in a very familiar room, his neck strained from sleeping on a desk of books. The room he had been studying in started to make sense to his eyes, and he could now see what surrounded him.

Yes, this was no doubt very different from the halls of his father's palace. At the back of his mind he could still remember the palace of Thranduil, nestled in the borders of Eryn Lasgalen*. The grand halls and rooms were filled with some of the finest of treasures, and the season festivals were always something to look forward to. There was archery, and hunting, and all kinds of sport as well. 

Legolas sighed. 

It's halls were no longer his home. 

The elf of about half a century old slowly got up the hard wooden stool, and found himself surrounded in the middle of shelves covering almost every inch of the four walls. Shelves of books, maps and scrolls, things that he had collected over the past centuries. Things that he had spent days after weeks almost losing himself in study.

Knowledge. He had been hiding behind that front for thousands of years now. He had learned languages new and old, studied maps and scrolls and old manuscripts. He had found that he had some of the power the istari possessed, and yes, he had learned the power to look into other's thoughts and control the elements with an exhausting amount of his strength. But, although he had learned a great deal more than he should have, he had always yearned for something else. 

Something that had been lost to him millennia before. 

The elf sighed again, stepping out of his room. Enough with the daydream. There were things to be done. And oddly enough… 

Legolas stilled, listening hard. 

Someone was looking for him…

Visions of a figure running through the fields, tired and torn flew past his vision. All the while another name repeated again and again and again…

~_Avarion. Legolas. Avarion. Legolas.~_

Sooner than a blink of an eye, Legolas found himself surrounded by the voice and the visions. A young girl crying and sobbing, calling for someone. The voice became clearer with each passing second, the voice became louder. Louder and Louder and Louder until suddenly… 

Legolas' breathing came in quick gasps as the vision started to fade away, he leaned against the threshold as he caught his breath. 

Then came a soft knock on the door.

* * *

A/N: 

*Eryn Lasgalen- The new name of Mirkwood given by Thranduil before he left for 

Valinor. 


	4. Chapter 3: The Mist

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Fallacies of Vision

Book 1: Mesmerize Me

By:Furia

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Chapter 3: The Mist 

So I run fast I can

Die tomorrow half a man

Finish the story she said to me

I can't sit here and watch you bleed

-Edwin McCain, Punish Me

Damn… 

Acid yellow eyes peeking through the bushes. Erdaliel's breath caught in her throat. She gripped her knife tightly, seeing the metal glint slightly from the reflection of the moon behind her. 

The creature seemed to be even more delighted at the sight of her blade. Erdaliel could almost see it licking its lips in anticipation of the challenge that she represented to it. How could anything get any worse?

Just then…

More footsteps. Trudging on the ground, snapping fallen twigs and crunching dead leaves as more and more of the distant sounds grew closer and closer to her. The risk was self-evident. She could undoubtedly take on a few of those monsters, but a whole army of them…

Erdaliel ran.

As fast as her elfin feet would bring her. She heard the creature snarl at her as she managed to escape, but she knew she had to run faster. It would be only seconds before the rest would catch on to what was happening. 

She did not have time to think about it. 

Leaping over bushes and roots, her feet barely skimming the ground. Still she heard the grunts and hisses of her attackers not far behind. There were far too many of them. If several of them attacked her from the side she would be dead in no time. 

Erdaliel stopped at the roots of a tall tree, breathing heavily. She hastily tucked the strands of her short wavy hair from her face. Looking around once, then looking up at her only hope. She grabbed a low branch and climbed the boughs. 

Once up the branches Erdaliel felt herself relax. But she wasn't out yet. Just a stretch more to the town… and she had to make sure that those demons didn't follow her out. She needed to lose their trail. 

She leapt from branch to branch, tree to tree like a panther, using her legs to push and her arms to pull on the next. The branches scratched her face and the sheer velocity of her movements was fast enough to easily lose control in her elevation circumstances. But below her she heard the sounds getting louder again, and vaguely the Black Speech being snarled out a few times. Stopping now would be suicide.

It went on for minutes, springing from branch to branch. Too prolonged for her point of view. Somewhere she heard the waters of the Forest River, but that all passed within seconds. There were times when it seemed she had lost them, but then only to hear the grunting and snarling get closer and more frantic. The orcs had found their prey, and they were not going to let her out alive. Erdaliel let out a burst of speed.

The end was in sight. It seemed to Erdaliel that the voices and footsteps faded back there, were they gone? She didn't know for sure. 
    
    The young elf reached the last tree, leapt up its branches and let herself fall down to the ground, knees bent and back crouched low to the ground. She turned around, hand on the hilt of her knife just in case something else jumped her from the darkness. Silence….not even the sound of her breathing. Seeing nothing to cause her trouble, she sighed and turned herself to the safety of the open lands.
    

If only she knew there was more danger out there in the open. 

Avarion was still a mile or two away, there was no way she was going to be able to run that far anymore. She shuddered, gathering what power and energy and strength she had inside her. Gods, she had better get it right this time, they would surround her anytime soon.

She was right. Sooner than later, the pounding footsteps reached her ears. The orcs could be anywhere within half a mile… 

It took a second for the building heat inside her to grow from her center, and it would have been painful if it weren't for the strain in her head. It was a power her Master had just recently taught her, and it was useful, oh but extremely hard to do. Erdaliel let the power build, and burned it her inside like a fire in her heart. 

*Thud* 

And Erdaliel set it free. 

~To Avarion…~ She whispered, just before her body turned into mist, and she let the wind read her thoughts to guide her back to home.

Her home village was but a dark shadow in the gloom, but Erdaliel could see the lights of the houses, and she knew she had to get into its safe walls soon. Gliding along with the winds she flew through the fields, and her home, Avarion, got closer with each passing second. 

Orcs. They were in the forests now, but why? Ever since the elves of Thranduil set sail for the West, the orcs never set foot in the forests. Even more unusual, it seemed that they had once again formed their armies. But that must mean…

This was bad news. Of course, nothing was ever sure but her master would want to be informed about…this. 

Her master's hut was located the closest to the outside lands. It was a place wherein the bustle was not as busy, and the peace was kept. Seeing the small cottage with a light inside, Erdaliel breathed deeply and focused her thoughts, slowly feeling her body taking shape again. 

"Master!" She called, climbing up the steps to the door, pounding lightly with her fists. "Master! Master Legolas! There is something a—"

The door creaked open, and Erdaliel was stunned into silence. 

A stranger stood at the doorway, head bent low. Dressed in tattered rags, her light brown hair hung in rattails down her shoulders. She looked up to face Erdaliel, her soft lips quivering. Peculiar…her eyes were not blue, brown nor green. Some shade Erdaliel could only place as…

Erdaliel gasped.

"Who are you?"

***

A/N: review!


	5. Chapter 4: Violet Eyes

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Fallacies of Vision

Book 1: Mesmerize Me

By: Furia

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Chapter 4: Violet eyes

I ran like the wind to the water 

Please don't leave me again, I cried 

And I threw bitter tears at the ocean 

But all that came back was the tide 

~ I Will Not Forget You, Sarah McLachlan 

The room was dark. The small fireplace was the only source of light in the cottage. The flames dancing and leaping, casting moving shadows on the walls. The room was silent. Not even the scratching of a mouse or the shuffling of feet could be heard. Only the sounds of the swishing of water echoed through the room. 

Erdaliel sat at the dinner table near the fireplace, the rough wood scratching her arms as she placed them there. The elf tilted her head to the side in a thoughtful gesture, quietly taking in the image of the girl in front of her. 

She had preferred to sit on a small stool across the room instead of at the table with Erdaliel. The elf didn't take it against her, it seemed that this newcomer had it in her nature to be very shy. But she hardly spoke a word since Master Legolas disappeared behind the curtain door a while ago, and it was beginning to puzzle the young elf greatly. 

For now the girl sat quietly as ever, head bowed down low and hands clasped together. She sat in the shadows, the fire was casting light on the walls. Although the light seemed to dissipate into the air again and again with each time she sighed heavily, as if there were a great burden on her shoulders. 

For a moment Erdaliel saw something bright sparkle from the girl's fingers, but then she pulled her sleeves down and it was lost from her view. 

"Iantha is it?" Erdaliel said getting tired of the silence, swirling the contents of her cup of water absently. The foreign girl only barely nodded in reply, eyes trained on the ground and her stringy brown hair scattering over her face as she did so. There was something so dispirited about this young woman, something that the elf could only put down to nothing of her business.

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~Oh, but Erdaliel… it is.~

The elf girl looked up from staring at the strange girl to find herself face to face with her teacher coming in from the bedrooms. The wise elf barely looked his part, and some would still confuse him as an elf in his prime years. But there was a solemn searching in his blue eyes whenever he looked at anyone, and that told Erdaliel that her master was hiding far too much as well. 

The sneaky old elf was reading her mind again. Erdaliel glared at him briefly for that. Her master only gazed at her, his smile showing in the twinkle in his eye. But it was gone in a blink as he turned to face the newcomer.

"What brings you here, Iantha? You say that my friend Gandalf the Grey has sent you here." Her master said, moving towards the girl, who was now visibly shaking.

The girl Iantha shook her head, her trembling becoming more pronounced with each step that Master Legolas took. Erdaliel furrowed her brows in puzzlement, and opened her mouth to say something before Iantha spoke. 

"Indeed, it is as you say, Sir Legolas. B-But I am afraid that h-he is no more, the G-Gandalf that we all know." She said with a strained voice, as if she was forcing herself to speak instead of bursting into tears. Her jittery fingers were playing with the fabric of her soiled clothes, and Erdaliel caught a glimpse again of something sparkling under her long sleeves. The more she spoke it seemed that the less control over herself she had, for now she was trembling violently, rushing and stuttering over her words, and tears starting to slip down her cheeks. "He w-was killed before I-I journeyed for this p-place, A-Avarion." 

"What?" Erdaliel exclaimed, standing up suddenly. Her cup spilled its contents on the table, slowly dripping to the floor unnoticed. Gandalf… Mithrandir… was killed? Surely not, why he had just been to Avarion a moon ago! Her master's body was tense, she could see, his head tipped down and his fists were clenched tightly. 

Iantha looked up at her in surprise, and there and then Erdaliel saw with unease the color of the girl's eyes. Not blue, not brown nor green as she had thought. A color in between the blue and red. A purple, a lilac color that was nothing she had ever seen before. Bursting with a fire and strength and a Power barely there that Erdaliel knew would still be unleashed at this point, the young woman's stare was puzzling.

But now the violet eyes were brimming with tears, misty and almost all pupil in fear and grief. 

"Gandalf, my mentor. He was murdered."

***


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